1st Feb 2020 : The Hindu Editorials Notes : Mains Sure shot for UPSC IAS exam

1st Feb 2020 : The Hindu Editorials Notes : Mains Sure shot 

No. 1.

Question – Critically analyse the problems faced by the agricultural sector in India and suggest the way ahead.

Context – The dissatisfactory performance of the agricultural sector.

• Agriculture is a crucial segment for inclusive development and provides stimulus to the economy, especially when it is not doing too well.

The condition of agriculture in India:

• Being the source of livelihood for over 55 percent Indians, agricultural sector is an important element in our economy. Still, this sector is not as evolved as it should be and faces a lot of challenges resulting in low productivity.
• In India, around 43 percent of the land is used for agricultural purposes; however, contributes only 18 percent to country’s GDP. a large part of it can be attributed to the fact that the farmers in rural India suffer greatly from illiteracy and poverty; hence, there is a lack of good continuous services.
• Another typical challenge that farmers face in India is the over dependency on rain. Due to the poor irrigation facilities, Indian farmers are highly dependent on monsoon so during the years of no or less rainfall, agricultural production suffers a big time.
• In the villages and also in the suburbs, the roads and connectivity is still pretty bad which hinders proper communication to the cities and towns. Apart from these points, low agricultural produce can also be attributed to various other factors like:
• As per a research conducted by the World Bank, the large agricultural subsidies are one of the main reasons for lack of big investments in agricultural sector. Increased costs, uncertainty and price risks are a result of over regulation of agriculture in India. The government intervenes in land, labor and credit markets, this hampers the final prices and revenue.
• Lack of schools and colleges in the rural areas forbids kids from formal education. Illiteracy coupled with socio-economic backwardness and lack of execution in land reforms are a few reasons why the agricultural sector is at a loss. Besides, there are not enough marketing and finance services to help the farmers with distribution and promotion of the crops.
• Due to fragmentation, family disputes and Land Ceiling Act there is very small (less than 20,000 m2) land holdings available for agriculture. This often leads to less productivity.

The areas that need focus:

1. The disparity in agriculture expenditure and growth drivers, mainly the subsidiary sectors, must be addressed. Despite higher growth in livestock and fisheries sector, only moderate to low expenditure was recorded. Expenditure on livestock and fisheries must be increased, as they are mainly connected with resource-poor families in rural areas and also to raise the decelerating growth rate.
2. Moreover, the expenditure on research and development in agriculture needs to be raised from nearly 0.40% of agriculture GDP to 1% as it pays huge dividends in the long run in ameliorating poverty and improving livelihoods compared to any other investment.
3. Considering India’s dependency on agriculture and recurring climate-induced disasters, it is imperative to expand the implementation of Climate Smart Villages of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research-National Innovations on Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) across the nation.
4. The Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs), which are currently facing operational and structural issues governed by different Acts and funded by various sources, may be strengthened by bringing them under one institution, preferably an FPO Development and Regulatory Authority. A structured impetus must be given to build block chain based e-market places connecting farmers, traders, agencies, institutions and exporters on a common platform to check price fluctuations and harness decentralisation.
5. Further, affordable technologies must be developed and deployed particularly in rural and remote areas where digital literacy of farmers has improved considerably. Key farm institutions and organisations in the front line of farm service, dealing with perishables and low shelf life commodities, must digitalise so that they are efficiently managed.
6. Private sector involvement :
7. large-scale investment in agriculture over several years have encouraged monoculture, threatening the environment and soil health (mainly in green revolution areas). Thus small-scale investment measures or an incentive-based system is essential to scale up sustainable practices such as agroforestry, climate-smart agriculture, ecosystem services, conservation agriculture and others. Increasing corporate social responsibility will help to tap more private investments besides encouraging private players in potential areas where production sustainability is possible.
8. The government must establish a farm data agency, which can consolidate, collate and maintain farm data available at various platforms. Ongoing efforts of digitisation of land records must also include farmer-centric advisories. The farm data agencies can also facilitate beneficiaries identification, better targeting of subsidies, support systems of various developmental programmes. Access to farm agency data for scientific institutions and all other relevant stakeholders can hasten the process of technology dissemination and aid research systems for better policies.
9. Commissioning ease of farming index is necessary to ascertain the progress made by national and State governments on the key indicators of farming. Possibly, the exercise can be done with active involvement of proven private/public institutions or international agencies. This perhaps stands away from the conventional assessment of effectiveness of agriculture policies and programmes that are part of the farm support system. Moreover, the exercise may foster cooperative and competitive federalism besides encouraging States which are lagging behind to catch up.
10. The need of the hour is setting up two institutions; one, a national agricultural development council on the lines of the Goods and Services Tax Council under the chairmanship of Prime Minister for effective coordination and convergence of States on key reforms and policies; two, farmers’ welfare commissions (both at the Centre and State level), as an independent institutional mechanism which will act as a neutral platform for assessing all agriculture-related issues and schemes.
11. Involvement of centrally-funded research organisations as knowledge partners would help to coordinate and refine existing developmental schemes in agriculture and allied sectors.
12. It is pertinent to deliberate on an ‘Indian Agricultural Service’ on the lines of the Agricultural Research Service of the United States Department of Agriculture. In addition, to deal effectively with increasing droughts and floods and other extreme events, transfer of some subjects to the concurrent list is of prime importance.

Overall :

• In the era of global uncertainty and domestic glitches, we need well-tailored farm measures beyond short-run sops to balance the national requirement with the farmer’s aspirations. Moreover, the right mix of direct benefits and price support with focused investment on resource conservation will bring stability in a farmer’s income.
• The budget 2020 announced : Kisan Rail and Krishi Udan: The initiatives have been launched to facilitate smooth and fast transport of perishable goods to assist the farmers. And Solar Pumps: The Government will also help 20 lakh farmers to set up standalone solar pumps.

No. 2.

Note – Coronavirus and epidemic control has already been covered. Refer to the article of 24th January.